Paris in the Rain
by iWhitie
Summary: "Pull me in the moment, you and I alone and people may be watching, I don't mind." Story based on the song by Lauv. Marinette has graduated High school, pursuing Fashion Design in college. No contact with Adrien since High School. She still loves him, yet hasn't spoken to him. When will she gain the courage to reach out? Rated T for future chapters. No spoilers.
1. Introduction

It's raining. I don't like the rain. It reminds me of the days I used to stay listlessly in my parent's bakery on non-busy days; baking for the non-existent customers. My dad loves baking, and don't get me wrong I do too, but not on gloomy days like this. I glance outside of the bakery entrance's door. Cars passing without pause, people running or walking with umbrellas shielding them from the rain. Come to think of it, I've never seen someone in Paris forget their umbrella during the rainy days.

Is it just me? Cause I remember back in high school, I did that. It was so embarrassing. Mainly because it was with a guy that I absolutely despised at first, but once I caught sight of those entrancing emerald green eyes of his... I fell in love.

I wonder how he's doing sometimes. He's a famous model, and I hear about him every so often, but I haven't gotten into contact with him since I started attending college nearby. I've been there for about two semesters now, still aspiring to be a fashion designer.

Oh, and I'm still that superhero everyone knows as "Ladybug". Alya knows who I am now, because she's been helping around as Rena Rouge when I'm unavailable. Her and I both switch off when we have to cram study for our classes. She's taking journalism classes, which obviously fit her, right? Plus, she's still rocking the Lady-blog. That, from what I heard, has been giving her extra points for her classes due to her experience.

Oh, and Cat Noir is still the same comical kitty cat we all know and hate to love. Alya has been dying for us to reveal our identities to him, since he's been getting hints that both her and I know each other outside of our transformations. I absolutely refuse, mainly because I don't want him to get hurt that I won't reciprocate the feelings I know he has for me.

I love Adrien. I know my feelings for him will never change, even though I obviously don't talk to him anymore... After graduating high school, contact between us became all but non-existent. I think Nino probably still talks to him, heck they where like brothers, and I know Alya talks to Nino, since they're practically a couple now.

I could always ask either of them, but… I don't know when I'll muster up the courage to do so.

* * *

_It's been a few years since I've written any fanfiction... and I'm planning to get back into this. Mainly because I now have access to a laptop and it's easier for me to write stories now. I was stuck with a desktop for a while, and I didn't feel comfortable writing on that. So, I'm back to writing now, and hopefully, since I am a college student, this will help me with my writing skills. _

_I've had this story in my mind for a while, after hearing the song on my Discover Weekly on Spotify. The song is called what the title is, Paris in the rain. It's by Lauv. It's got a nice hymn to it, so I recommend listening to it. _

_This story will be a few chapters, I am not so sure how long, but I will write as much as I can. I also have the help from my boyfriend to over look, proof-read it, and suggest a few things. So this story is mainly me writing and my boyfriend correcting. _

_The characters are of legal age, 18. I'm writing based off of American college and universities, so I apologize in advance if it offends anyone. I am unaware of France's educational system. _

_I hope you enjoyed this introduction. Feedback is appreciated. Thank you for your time! _


	2. A day before finals

I see him around a lot now, in all the posters and magazines, of course. I don't mean in person, but…it'd be nice to. I find myself thinking about him unendingly. Alya teases me a about it, especially in front of Chat Noir. She tries too hard to make him jealous, and I always shut her up about it. Luckily though, she doesn't say his name, so Chat doesn't know exactly who I have a crush on, just that I have one. He sometimes tries to pry it out of me, which makes Alya laugh. I've always been tactful enough to be able to talk my way around the topic whenever it comes up, thankfully.

Yet, I can't help but feel…bad about it. He always adopts this certain expression during the conversation when he's trying to find out about my interest. He looks melancholy, a slight sorrow highlighting his features. He'd smile halfheartedly towards the end, saying "He's such a lucky guy for you to be interested in him".

It breaks my heart.

"Mari?" Alya breaks my train of thought, tapping a pencil against my forehead. "Hey! That's not nice!"

"Yeah? Well what's not nice is you spacing out when we're in the middle of a conversation."

_Did I really?_ "Ooops.."

She smiles warmly, taking the pencil in her hand and leaning close to tap a marking down in my book, which I take note of. It's a heart. "You have too much on your mind. What's going on?"

I hesitate to tell her, but since she's now in this whole super-hero shenanigans, she deserves to know. "Revealing it to him."

Alya nods her head as she's filling in the heart with various of designs, "Uhhhh-huh?"

I take my pen and draw a heart next to hers, continuing the doodle. "I don't want to hurt him. He knows we know each other, and it hurts him. I see it in his face, Alya. He knows I don't like him like that; he knows we're close. He just… knows, and I can't bear to hurt him more."

Silence dawns over us for the next few seconds. Her doodling slows to a crawl as Alya seems to mull over the issue at hand for a bit. I glance over at her, putting my pen down. She follows suit. "If it hurts you so much, why don't you go ahead and do something about it?"

"You know I can't, we're risking him knowing."

"Yet I know you, and you know me. You're contradicting yourself."

"I know you because I trusted and deemed you worthy to take the fox miraculous in good faith. Chat was chosen by Master Fu, and I have no idea who he is..." Ink has again started to paint the landscape of the book's pages, my nervousness showing through the messiness of the sketches. "I shouldn't be doing this; this is a rental."

"It's not like they look at the books anyways. Plus, I did mine in pencil. I can erase." _Wait, what?_ I can practically hear the smirk on her face as I stop my doodling, staring at my book in abject horror. _Oh no... _

"I drew in pen?!" Alya erupts into a cacophony of laughter, a sound that I'm not participating in. "Ugh, there goes some of my financial aid for this semester." I mentally curse myself. _How could I have done such a thing?_ Alya calms down within the next few moments and smiles at me, "If it makes you feel any better, I've done it before. They just charge you about $25 extra. That is, only if they catch it."

_$25 extra wouldn't make or break my bank_. I'm still living with my parents as I continue school, so I work with my parents in their bakery to earn some funds to supplement the aid I'm getting. It's better than doing something I'm unfamiliar with and it covers the expenses for my classes and books. Any amount I've managed I've got left I save, unless Alya and I decide to go out for some fun.

"Well, I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out" I sigh. Finals are tomorrow, which means that today's the last day I have with this rental book. The plan is: finish studying, go to sleep, wake up and take the final exam, then return the book. It's as simple as that.

"After tomorrow, we should just take the next few days off for ourselves. You and I stay home and just sleep in; you know? If an akuma shows up, obviously we'll go handle it, but let's try not to overwork ourselves. We have classes again next month, and we're taking Math together. We're both objectively terrible at it, but at the very least we'll have each other to rely on when it gets too tough." Alya says cheerfully as she motions to lay down on the floor, taking her book down with her, holding it steadily above her head as she reads.

"You mean, we'll have Nino to help you." I say as I get up and walk over to my desk, grabbing a pink highlighter. She laughs, "Yeah, sure, you know he'll help you too."

"Help me with what? Remind me how to spell my own name meanwhile he sticks his tongue down your throat? Excuse me, uhm, I came for a math tutoring session, not an anatomy session." I tease, turning to find Alya's cheeks burning a rosy rouge.

"We'll figure it out, Bug." she chuckles after she composes herself.


End file.
